K, guys, now that the opening chaos of the year has died down (well, it has for ME, and that's what's important here, neh?) we will be going to a weekly single-chapter update schedule for this fic.
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Hope you guys are okay with that. Not that there's really anything that I can do about it if you're not...at least as far as I'm willing to check.
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Disclaimer: I do not own HP
Claimer: This version of this idea is mine!
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…
The last month was awkward, to say the least. Petunia and Vernon had taken an unusual tact and were pretending Harry didn't exist in any way, shape, or form, while Dudley would cover his pig-tailed bum, burst into tears, and flee the room immediately whenever he saw her enter. Harry ended up spending most of her time with her new snowy owl, who she named Hedwig. It was a name Harry had seen somewhere in one of her new books.
Before September 1st rolled around, Harry made a point of cautiously approaching her uncle and asking for a ride to the King's Cross train station. He eyed her suspiciously, frowned, and demanded to see the ticket. When Vernon saw the platform number, he gave a nasty laugh and threw the ticket back at her as he sneered, "Luckily for you, Dudley's going into London to get that tail removed before he goes to Smeltings. We'll drop you at King's Cross on the way."
Unnerved by that laugh, Harry packed all her things carefully for the trip to Hogwarts, and spent the last night tossing and turning. True to his word, Vernon drove the whole family and Harry to King's Cross, getting there at about a quarter past ten, and even helped Harry take her stuff out of the car, which was suspiciously nice of him.
Harry's suspicions were confirmed when her uncle proceeded to laugh and point out that there was no platform in between Platforms Nine and Ten, before he got back into the car and drove away with the rest of the Dursleys as fast as he could, leaving Harry coughing in the wake of his dust.
Loading her things onto a cart and wheeling it around the station, Harry searched for Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, getting more and more worried when she couldn't find it anywhere. The train was supposed to leave at eleven, and at this rate she wasn't going to be on it! Asking a muggle station guard got her nowhere, even though she made certain not to mention Hogwarts or the unusual name of her platform, because there was no other train leaving at eleven o'clock.
Hedwig hooted sympathetically in her cage, and Harry stuck her fingers through the bars to stroke her owl's feathers. Well, if she missed the train, she would just have to send Hagrid a letter so that he could come and get her, right? An embarrassing start to becoming a witch, but still better than being stuck like this.
Just as she was reaching to get a quill and parchment, Harry heard a snippet of conversation from a family of red-heads going by. "Full of muggles," was what Harry heard, and perched inside of a cage on one of the family's carts was an owl…eagerly, Harry followed them.
They stopped facing the wall between Platforms Nine and Ten.
"All right, one at a time," said the mother, "Percy, you first."
One of the red heads pushed his cart towards the wall - but a crowd of people blocked Harry's view and when she looked next, he was gone. Hurriedly, she moved to catch up to the family before they all vanished without a trace.
"Okay Fred, you next," the mother said.
"Hold up there, I'm George," said the boy she was addressing.
"Honestly, woman, and you call yourself our mother?" added another boy who looked just like him.
"Oh, sorry, George, go on," the mother said.
Before pushing towards the wall, 'George' smirked and said "Got you mum, I am Fred" before running at the wall and vanishing - his twin following seconds later.
"Those two," the mother sighed, exasperated, "All right, who's next - yes, dearie?"
Harry blinked, realized the woman was talking to her, and pushed her cart a little closer.
"Um, excuse me," Harry hesitated, "But…I don't…I don't know how…"
"How to get to the platform?" the mother finished for her.
When Harry nodded, the mother smiled and patted Harry on the shoulder sympathetically.
"Oh its quite all right, dearie, nothing to worry about. It's Ronald's first year at Hogwarts too," the mother said, indicating her remaining son, "All you have to do is walk through the barrier between platforms nine and ten - oh, you'd best do it at a bit of a run, if you're feeling a bit nervous."
It certainly looked like a solid wall to her…Harry closed her eyes and shoved her cart at the wall at full speed, waiting for the feeling of crashing that never came - a high-pitched whistle made Harry open her eyes and look around. The wall was behind her now, and in front of her was a bright red train and a crowd of witches and wizards and their children.
Not wanting another scene like the one in the Leaky Cauldron, Harry headed towards the nearest car and tried to get her trunk onto the train. It was heavy and she couldn't get it very far up…and then it slipped out of her fingers and landed on her foot, reminding her quite unnecessarily just how heavy the trunk happened to be.
"You want some help there?" came a voice from behind Harry.
Looking up, she saw it was the twin red-heads from before.
"Yes please," Harry said.
"Alright - get out of the way, slow slug, for the lady has requested my mighty assistance!" the first twin declared, leaping dramatically forward to grab one end of Harry's trunk.
"Away with you, foolish one, for can you not see that the lady needs the help of a strong and valiant warrior?" the other twin exclaimed, jumping to grab onto the other end of the trunk.
Together, they got it onboard and stowed away. Then they jumped off the train and stood in front of Harry, who was trying to hide how much she was giggling. Noticing it anyway, they kept bowing and making muscle poses and declaring the immensity of their incredible valor, until Harry was outright laughing. A few minutes later, once she got control of her mirth, Harry brushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes…only to freeze when the twins' eyes riveted themselves to her forehead.
"Blimey!" one of them exclaimed, "You're her, aren't you?"
"Who?" Harry asked.
"Harley Potter," the twins chorused.
"Oh," Harry sighed, "Yes, I'm her - I mean, that's me."
Harry braced herself for a sudden, unpleasant flood of admiration, and sure enough one of them immediately stepped forward and took her hand. But not to shake it, as Harry found out.
"Oh, Great and Mighty Destroyer of Evil!" the twin declared, "May this lowest of worms have the honor of helping you onto the train?"
"Ignore him, Oh Great and Powerful Sorceress," the other twin cried, jumping to take Harry's other hand, "Allow me to assist you, for I am far more lowly than my brother!"
"He lies!" the first twin insisted, "Indeed, it is I who is more feeble and more unworthy than he for your attention!"
"If you're both so feeble, maybe I should be the one helping you," Harry mentioned, laughing without meaning to.
Immediately, they both let go of her hands and sat down on the platform, holding their hands up like little children who want their mothers to pick them up. Harry laughed even harder.
"FRED! GEORGE!" trumpeted the voice of the twins' mother, ending the little game.
"Right, we'll see you later Harley," the twins said, springing to their feet.
"Call me Harry," Harry told them.
The twins laughed and headed to their mother with a short "Very well, see you later, Harry old chum" and a "Until later, Harry my good man!" and leaving Harry to quickly get on the train and into her chosen compartment before anyone else spotted her. She doubted anyone was going to be as fun as 'FredandGeorge' to deal with…her sides still hurt…Harry couldn't remember laughing that hard before in her entire life!
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From the window of her compartment, Harry could see the red-heads reuniting before the train departed. Accompanying the four boys and their mother was a little red-haired girl, presumably their sister, and their mother was giving all of her children last-minute lectures.
"Can't stay long, Mother," the oldest was saying, "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves -"
"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" one of the twins interrupted, speaking with an air of great surprise, "You should have said something earlier, we simply had no idea."
"Hang on, I think I can remember him saying something about it," the other twin said, "Maybe once -"
"Or twice -"
"Just for a minute -"
"The whole summer -"
"Oh shut up," said Percy the Prefect.
"All right, dears, have a good term," their mother said to her other two sons, before turning to the twins and adding sternly "Now you two - this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've - you've blown up a toilet or -"
"Blown up a toilet? We've never, ever blown up a toilet, Mum."
"Great idea though, thanks!"
"Its not funny. And look after Ron."
"Don't worry, Ickle Ronnikins is safe with us."
"Shut up," said Ron.
Unfortunately for Harry's eavesdropping pleasure, the next thing one of the twins said was "Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"
Harry made certain she couldn't be seen watching as the twin continued, "You know that black-haired girl who was by us in the train station? Know who she is?"
"Who?"
"Harley Potter!"
Immediately the little red-haired girl piped up.
"Oh Mum, can I go on the train and see her, Mum, oh please…"
"You've already seen her, Ginny, the girl's not something you gawk at in a zoo. …Is she really, Fred? How do you know?"
"Asked her," Fred answered, "Saw her scar. Its really just like lightning."
"Poor darling - no wonder she was all alone, I had wondered…she was ever so sweet and polite, asking how to get to the platform."
"Never mind that," piped up the other twin - George, "Do you think she remembers what You-Know-Who looked like?"
"I forbid you to ask her that!" snapped their mother, "Don't you even dare! As if she needs reminding of that on her first day at school…"
Harry tuned out the rest of the conversation, which ended shortly anyway as the train began to lurch out of the station. Harry had never tried very hard to remember her parents' death before - it would have been just another reminder that she was stuck with the Dursleys - but whenever she had remembered, all she had recalled had been a big green light. Green light in a car crash…that had never made sense before.
Thinking about it now, she suddenly also remembered a high, cold laugh that made her shiver in her seat. Pushing it away, Harry decided to enjoy her otherwise empty compartment and stare at the scenery for the whole trip to Hogwarts.
Then the door opened.
…